


Watch and Learn

by CatrinaSL



Series: Critical Role Relationship Week [7]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Calianna's Quest, Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Critical Role Relationship Week, Gen, Momstah Pike, Theft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 17:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL
Summary: Cali must continue her quest to thwart the Caustic Heart... no matter how big the guy in possession of the next relic happens to be.Spoilers for Campaign 2 Episode 21.





	Watch and Learn

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to [Critical Role Relationship Week 2018!](http://vexahliaderolo.tumblr.com/post/174551001418/what-is-critical-role-relationship-week-critical) Today's pairing is Grog & Calianna.
> 
> Spoilers for Campaign 2 Episode 21.

He was huge.

Bigger than she'd been told. Bigger than she'd imagined. Bigger than she could handle if things went wrong.

But she had to get the knife. She had come so far. She couldn't abandon her quest just because she finally got the chance to learn first-hand why the race was called "goliath."

Calianna pulled her cloak tighter around herself and edged through the crowd toward him.

She waited until he laughed, loud and long, at something that his companion had said, before she took her chance.

His bag was strange, small for a creature his size, but as soon as she put her hand inside, she felt the knife.

Cali pulled it out, baffled, and stared at the jewel-encrusted handle, unable to believe that it had been that easy.

"Hey!"

It wasn't.

Cali stashed the knife in her pocket and ducked her head as she weaved between the tables of the crowded pub. She didn't look back; she wasn't sure that she would like what she saw.

Three more steps, and she was through the front door and free!

She dashed around the corner of the building and into the safety of the alley.

Or so she planned. In reality, she ran around the corner of the building and tripped over something.

Someone.

"Female, dark cloak?" they said. "Yeah, Grog, I got her. In the alley to the right."

Cali scrambled to her feet and found herself face to face with a gnome. The most muscular gnome she had ever seen. Cali knew that if this gnome wanted to take her out, she could. Easily.

So Cali ran.

Back down the alley and directly into the towering goliath from whom she had just taken the knife.

"Thanks, Pike," he said, nodding to the gnome.

"No problem, buddy," the gnome replied.

Cali looked between them, hoping to think of a way out of her situation, and tugged her cloak closer across her face.

"Now," said the goliath, taking a step closer. "I think you have somethin' of mine."

"I can't give it back," Cali told him, trying to sound braver than she felt.

"Why?" asked the gnome, as she advanced.

Cali knew what they were doing. When they got close enough, they would grab her, and if she ran away from one, she'd run straight into the other.

"Because—" she began. "It's my responsibility to destroy it. Something bad could happen if I don't."

"Something bad?" the goliath repeated. "Like what?"

Calianna looked up at him to find his scowl gone, and a look of confusion mixed with curiosity on his face.

"I'm not the only one looking for it," she replied, glancing over at the gnome, whose stance was softening, her face concerned. "There's a cult out there who wants to do bad things with it."

"What kind of cult?" the goliath asked, but the gnome shushed him.

"Can I see it?" she said, holding out her hand for the knife as she moved closer to Cali.

Cali put her back to the wall and shook her head. "I have to destroy it," she said again.

"Can you tell us why?" the gnome asked.

"Pike, she stole from me," the goliath tattled.

"I know," the gnome replied. "But nobody steals from you for no reason. You're too scary to steal from just for kicks."

The goliath looked touched. "Thank you, Pike."

The gnome smiled, then returned her gaze to Cali. "Please," she said. "If you're telling the truth, we can help you."

"I am telling the truth," Cali said, her eyes flicking from the gnome to the goliath and back. "But how do I know I can trust  _ you _ ?"

The gnome's smile grew wider, and she tugged on a chain around her neck, revealing a symbol that had been hanging under her shirt: the symbol of the Everlight. Cali didn't know much about her, but she did know that the Everlight was an enemy of the Scaled Tyrant, so she decided to take a chance.

She pulled the knife out of the pocket of her cloak and, with her half elven hand, extended it toward the gnome, who now looked much less imposing (but no less ripped) now that she was being friendly.

"Grog!" the gnome—Pike—scolded after holding the knife for a moment. "This thing is really dangerous! Where'd you get it?!"

The goliath shrugged. "Traveling merchant," he replied, sounding a bit chastised. "He gave me a good deal on it, too. Wanted forty gold, but  _ I _ gave him fifty."

Pike shook her head and sighed before turning to Cali. "How were you planning to destroy this?" she asked.

"Uh..." Cali still didn't have a good method of destroying the relics of the Caustic Heart. "I... I'll find a way," she said.

"You'll need to dispel the magic on it; it won't melt or break otherwise."

"Yes, I... I've seen that before. In the past," Cali told her.

"I can do that, if you want," Pike said. "And Grog can try to smash it."

"I do enjoy smashing," Grog admitted, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Yes—please," Cali agreed.

She watched as Pike set the knife on the ground and cast a spell—it felt similar to when Yasha had used her sword—but instead of breaking apart as soon as the spell was finished, the knife waited on the ground for Grog, who didn’t seem in any hurry.

Pike smiled fondly as the goliath produced a huge greatsword from within the same small bag in which Cali had found the knife, then swapped it out for a hammer before setting that down to pull out a gigantic battleaxe. He then weighed the hammer in one hand and the battleaxe in the other, deliberating.

"Come on, Grog," Pike sighed. "The sooner you do this the sooner we can go drink."

"You can't rush a master," Grog replied loftily, as he returned the greatsword to the bag and frowned at the hammer before shoving the battleaxe inside the bag headfirst. "Right. Watch and learn."

The knife was obliterated with one heavy swing of the hammer.

But the brute strength of the goliath's crushing blow didn't seem to be the thing Cali needed to know more about.

"Good job," Pike told Grog when he looked to them for applause or praise.

"Can you teach me that?" Cali asked Pike. "The spell? I have... more of these relics I need to find, and so far I've had to rely on other people's abilities to help, so..."

"Are you able to cast spells?" Pike asked, and smiled at Cali's nod. "Then I'll do what I can to teach you."

"Pike's the best teacher!" Grog insisted as he stowed the hammer away in his bag. "Watch this: T-A-I-L. Tail. You have a nice  _ tail _ ."

**Author's Note:**

> [Reblog on tumblr](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com/post/174989886363/watch-and-learn)
> 
> Tumblr: [catrinasl](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com)
> 
> Twitter: [@Catrina_SL](http://twitter.com/Catrina_SL)


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